Personal reason behind late departure, clarifies Afridi

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After two versions of official explanation emerged on Pakistan's limited overs captain Shahid Afridi’s failure to leave along with the national team for the tour of the West Indies on Thursday morning, the skipped clarified that a personal reason prevented him from boarding the flight.

When Afridi did not leave for the West Indies along with the rest of the Pakistani squad from Lahore, it raised a lot of eyebrows over the real reason for his delayed departure.

And the official explanation also did not help the cause as two different versions cropped up.

While the first version said that he had forgotten his passport in Karachi, the other version said he had requested to leave later as he wanted to return to Karachi from Lahore to meet with his father who is not keeping well.

The flamboyant allrounder, however, insisted that there was nothing fishy behind his late departure.

"I had some personal work to take care of and that is why I am leaving now," Afridi told the media before departing for Dubai at the Karachi airport, on Thursday afternoon.

Afridi's failure to also attend the last day of the training camp in Lahore on Wednesday, had also raised questions.

But the skipper explained that he was leaving with a clear mind to win the series in the West Indies and also make an impact with his batting.

"I realise that our batting is an area of concern and it is also my responsibility as captain to contribute with the bat. In the coming series my main emphasis will be on my batting and I want to score some runs," said Afridi, who finished with 21 wickets in the recently-concluded World Cup but he flopped with the bat.